Call it the east coast bias if you must, but we don’t get a lot of Western Athletic Conference games televised here in the Garden State. As a result, I don’t feel all that comfortable with pretending to have anything more than the most basic knowledge of the conference. I do know that New Mexico State was among the WAC’s representatives in last year’s tournament, and that former Deering Tornadoes and current Sacramento Kings head coach Reggie Theus found himself at the helm at that point. And Nevada had Nick Fazekas. But that’s about it.
So, we’ll let the numbers do the rest of the talking after the jump.
Western Athletic Conference Tournament
(all games at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico)
FIRST ROUND — Tuesday, March 11
#8 San Jose State over #9 Louisiana Tech
QUARTERFINALS — Thursday, March 13
#4 Boise State over #5 Hawaii
#1 Utah State over #8 San Jose State
#2 Nevada over #7 Fresno State
#3 New Mexico State over #6 Idaho
SEMIFINALS — Friday, March 14
#1 Utah State over #4 Boise State
#3 New Mexico State over #2 Nevada
Western Athletic Conference Championship — Saturday, March 15
#3 New Mexico State over #1 Utah State
PROJECTED WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPION: #3 New Mexico State Aggies (earn automatic berth in NCAA tournament)
REGULAR SEASON WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPION: #1 Utah State Aggies (earn automatic NIT berth)
KEEP AN EYE ON: #2 Nevada Wolf Pack
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Jaycee Carroll (Utah State), Marcelus Kemp (Nevada), Reggie Larry (Boise State), Kevin Bell (Fresno State), Justin Hawkins (New Mexico State), Matt Gibson (Hawaii), Kyle Gibson (Louisiana Tech), Matt Nelson (Boise State), JaVale McGee (Nevada), Eddie Miller (Fresno State), Jordan Brooks (Idaho), Fred Peete (New Mexico State)
